Gideon
by TempeGeller
Summary: Little Gideon has dreamed about his parents all his life. He's alone in an orphanage; he never met his parents. The only thing that he has to comfort him is music. With his friend Emma, he'll try to find his parents.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The strange child in the orphanage**

 **Gideon**

 **New York, 2017**

I had never liked to be inside that orphanage. It was always silent there, no music around. They had strict rules about everything in there. There should be no reading, no music or not anything that could be considered as fun. There was nothing inside there for me. I had been here for eleven years two months and seven days. I had counted every day, hoping that my parents would come get me. I had dreamed about them; she had wavy long brown hair and bluest eyes you could ever see. I knew that she loved me, there was no way she didn't. I didn't know why I was here alone and not with her. She must have her reasons, I thought.  
I didn't know how my father would look. For some reason, I always thought of mom. I saw an image of her in every dream. My dad was different; he was a shadow of a dream. A blurry picture, someone whom I couldn't recognize. He was like sand that slipped through my fingers.  
When I woke up that morning, I stared from the window. Outside everything was dark. The orphanage was in the heart, New York. It was a large dark building in Victorian style. Everything was old and was ready to be replaced. I slept in a room with 11 other boys. We all slept in bunk beds. I had the only bed near the window. There was never anything nice outside. As the sun rose above the streets of New York, I turned in my bed. When I looked again, people were running down the street. Everyone had somewhere they needed to go. Someone they needed to see, I only wanted to meet two people. Only two. The only ones that mattered.  
There were times that I thought I could hear my mother's voice. Singing a song to me, it was a fragmented memory. Bits and pieces, yet I always recognized her voice. I knew her voice, and I could recognize it anywhere.  
I thought if I could learn to play music, they would be able to find me. I believe music was something magical. It brought people together. So I felt that it would bring my parents to me. Some people thought I was crazy because I believed this. I hadn't even dared to tell any of my friends that I heard my mother.  
"Look who's awake…" A voice came from behind me. "It's Gid… Gid… Eon."  
There were a group of boys that always made fun of me. There was nothing I could do to stop it. They took everything I did and turned it into a weapon.  
"Do you hear your mommy?" The boy named Clark stepped closer to me. He was twice my size, and I could see him from the bunk bed. How did he know it? I must have said something about it in my sleep. I looked at him. I knew there was fear in my eyes. I wanted to get from the bed and ran to the door.  
Another boy stepped from behind him. I knew his name was Adam. He was not as tall as Clark. Yet he was ten times as scary.  
"Your mother didn't want you." He had a mean smile on his face. "She looked at you once and realized she didn't want to know anyone like you. You can't hear them."  
"I can…" I looked them in the eyes as if I was unafraid. Yet fear was moving through my body; it made me unable to move. They pulled me from the bed. Clark pulled me to his eyesight.  
"Say it; you don't hear them."

"I do." A punch was released in my stomach. He asked me again if I could hurt mother. I kept saying the same thing. I was not weak; my mom would have told me to be strong. She would have said I should I needed to be brave.  
"He can't hear her." They dropped me to the floor. When I turned around, I could see my friend Emma. She was the same age as me. She had lost her parents too; she knew less about her mother than I did about mine.

"You shouldn't say something like this…" Emma stared at him. "People like them are too small minded; they can never understand dreams. I have them too, about my parents."  
"How do we find them?"  
"That's it; we don't find them." She stared at me. "They find us."  
"Maybe we should go find them."

I thought about it; I turned to her. She seemed to be thinking about what I just said. She only needed a second to think. She took a bag from under her bed and started to put everything in it. I did the same. Together we walked through the orphanage. Almost everyone was getting ready; everyone was getting ready for breakfast. Most people needed to do chores. We ran, it was now or never. We needed to be fast if we didn't get out now. We would never escape.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The musical genius**

 **2005: Paris, France**

 **Belle**

I had always been a fabulous piano player. There was not any partiture I could not play. The piano had no secrets for me. People came all over France to watch me play. Music was like a language to me. I heard it all around me, every note I played I heard before. I thought about what Mozart thought; he wrote music. The music that he played had every emotion in it. Love, desire, heartbreak. I knew nothing about life. I was only 22 years old; I had just graduated from the conservatorium. My whole life in front of me. My father had planned everything for me. One thing he forgot to love. That was the thing I wanted, no, needed most. I needed to fall in love. I needed to feel like I couldn't live without someone.  
Well, he had planned something like love for me. His name was Gaston. It was an arranged marriage. I had nothing to say about it. My father told me, this was how my story would go, that I needed to marry him. He never told me why. I was thought to respect my elders, so I didn't dare to say no. I never dared to say no to my father. He was a complicated man; he had lost my mother when he was very young. She had died of cancer, a disease I hated more than anything. There were times that I dreamt about what my life could have been like, if only she hadn't died. I never dared to keep that in my mind for long. Dreams were better kept away. I thought they had a sour aftertaste.  
Tomorrow I had a concert, two thousand people who were coming to hear me and my bandmates play. We were playing Mozart. I knew every note; I knew I would not make a mistake. The concert was like any I had before.  
Little did I know that the night would change my life forever. I walked in the living room. My father was seated next to Gaston. There was a tense look on his face. I sat down on the other side of the coffee table. I looked at them.  
"What is it?"  
"Well, the company is performing in New York." Moe looked at me. "I thought we could keep the wedding there. We've already found a charming little chapel."  
"New York?" I looked at my feet. The truth was I had always wanted to see New York. Yet I didn't want to marry Gaston in the city I had always dreamed about. It would change everything about this beautiful city. I wanted it to remain a paradise. "Can't we get married somewhere else? Like New Jersey, everything is cheaper in New Jersey."  
"Belle…" Gaston walked around the coffee table and sat down next to me. "Your father told me you've been dreaming about New York since you were a little girl. Sure it would be perfect if we get married there. I mean an idea…"

"The truth is…" Belle stood up. "I don't want to marry you."  
It became quiet in the small room. Gaston couldn't say he was surprised; he didn't love Belle either. He only thought she was pretty and he thought she was weak. He only wanted a girl to control. That was all he wanted. It seemed that she wasn't that person. She stood in front of them.  
"Father, if you love me, you won't ask me to marry him," Belle replied. "I want to love. Like you and mom had."  
"Don't mention your mother." Moe stood up. "You do as I say. When we get to New York, you're marrying Gaston. And that's final!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Scorned man**

 **2003, Dublin, Ireland**

 **Rumpelstiltskin Gold**

It was a relatively warm September night. Everything in the atmosphere started to turn from light to dark. I remember this very Monday evening as rainy. A storm passed over the North of Dublin. I didn't live in the city; I used to live in a less crowded part of Dublin. I didn't know how long I had lived her. I was born in a hospital in the heart of Dublin. Ever since that moment I had never been far from the city. Except for that one rare moment in college, otherwise, I hadn't gone on any vacations. My friend, David, lived on the end of the road. I loved everything about Dublin.  
Yet I don't remember that very September month as positive. I recall it as the most terrible moment in my entire life. In fact, that previous night might be the worst Sunday I had ever gone through. It started like any lovely Sunday. I had a date with my beautiful girlfriend Milah.  
She was truly the most beautiful girl in whole Dublin, maybe even the entire part of Ireland. I adored her, at least I believed I did. That evening I walked into the restaurant. From the other side of the table, she stared at me. Her expression showed a certain tension. One which I couldn't explain. It was our anniversary. A year ago, we went on our first date. That was an occasion I really wanted to celebrate. Little did I know, that she had no occasion to celebrate. She was there with a very clear goal. Dump me as fast as she could.  
"Rumple…" She crossed her arms. I could feel a certain tension in her voice.  
"Milah," I repeated.  
She smiled for a moment, slowly she reached for my arm. I knew her; she was a girl who liked to ignore confrontation. If she reached for my arm, something bad was about to happen. I felt a tension coming to my body.  
"Rumple, it's going nowhere soon. I think we should break up."  
I didn't know what she said after that. I zoned out. Maybe I didn't hear her apologize. I didn't hear her say how sorry she was for breaking up on our anniversary. I didn't listen to a lot of things because my mind went on writing awful things it could find. I don't know if I stormed out of the restaurant. I just knew that I was home, writing my anger on a piece of paper. You would be surprised how much of relief this can be. People who aren't writers don't understand the joy, to write away any anger you feel. I wrote down everything. Ever piece of vulgar language that I had to me.

It was the morning that brought new pain to me. It seemed that I finally understood what had happened last night. I understood that Milah had dumped me. Somehow I started to think about everything that I had gone through. I began to think about how I felt towards Milah. I noticed how not only my relationship was a problem, but my whole life. I always wanted a career. I wanted to make it big with my band 'the Monsters.'  
I had started it with my bandmate David. There were three other boys in the band Graham, Neal, and Robin. I was their lead singer; we weren't that famous. Sometimes we would play in small pubs. That was about it. I had never been recognized for my amazing lyrics or anything else. To most people, my songwriting was an absolute secret. I thought of myself on tour, my guitar by my side. I would find love. A beautiful girl with brown hair and blue eyes. That was the moment that I never truly had been in love. I was 26 and a virgin in love. I off course believed I was in love with Milah. Yet after the break-up, I noticed that it didn't hurt like it was supposed to. I mean of course it hurt, but I didn't feel like I couldn't go on. Like my life was over. Maybe all my love songs were just beaten down versions of the real thing; I might never experience.  
I was 26 years old . Music is and had been my whole life. I went to conservatory in London, in my pastime I studied rock music. I was happy. That was until my mom died about two years ago. That was the start of a dark time. The one I was still in the middle of. Some of my songs were bathed in darkness; music was the only thing that kept me happy.  
I couldn't see what was happening in my future. I couldn't see what was coming.

Success came faster that I thought.

 **2005, London, England**

I remember everything about this September night. There were loud guitars; there was smoke. A large audience is watching me. I was the center of attention. A year was nothing in a human life, I understood. I never believed we could become moderately successful. That was what they called it in the biz. We had moderate success in more places than one. They didn't consider our music for the garage, yet we were not considered mainstream media. We were somewhere in the jolly middle, and we enjoyed it. Graham loved being the hot one of the band. He enjoyed that if he needed a date, he could just pick a random girl from the public.  
David didn't enjoy being away from his girlfriend. He and Mary Margaret had been dating for a year. They were the truest couple I had ever seen, and true love was written all over it.  
I was believed to be the romantic lead singer. However, I didn't belong in that tight picture. When everyone talked to me, I did not see that fantasy I had for all these years, so I just refused to date them. So after a few months, I was known to be ice cold.  
I wasn't sure I liked being away from Dublin. Somehow I always felt that my home was too far. Yet I liked being on tour. I liked seeing new cities; I loved hearing people convey emotions when they heard my songs. Yet still, I had not experienced real love myself.

In a week, we were starting our tour in the US. I had been looking forward to the US. We began in New York. It was a city that I dreamt about ever since I was a little boy. Somehow I believed it was the city that would bring me, love. Yet fantasies like that could never be brought real. I needed to come to terms with that.  
When I walked off the stage, I could see Mary Margaret by the stage. She was telling something shocking to David. I knew it was life altering news. I hoped she wasn't sick. Stories about cancer were regular these days. It seemed that everyone got it and a significant portion of this people died for it. I hoped that was not the case with David and Mary Margaret. I saw him nod; he placed his hand on his forehead. She did the same and stepped outside for air or something.  
He walked towards me. His eyes fixated on the ground.  
"She's pregnant." His eyes were wider than I ever saw them.  
"Who?" I realized the stupidity of what I had just said.  
"Mary Margaret." David sat down. "She wants to keep it."  
"Wow, unplanned I assume."  
"Yes, I mean I did think of having children. That doesn't mean I ever told her or anything." He replied. "She said, she didn't expect anything from me. She said she could do it all by herself."  
"David, you're not…"  
"of course I'm not going to let her do this by herself," David replied. "In the end, this would have been the plan. I mean, it's just faster."  
"A whole lot faster…" I added.  
"I mean I can do this." He nodded his head. "I mean there are more people who have children who are even younger than I am."  
"Mary is coming with us to the US. It turns out she always wanted to go. She thinks we should have enough adventure before the baby comes." David replied. "After that, she doesn't expect me to quit the band. She's awesome like that. We're figuring this out."  
"You two will figure it out."  
At that moment, I realized, life could change in just a split second. One time you were a carefree man. The next moment your significant other was pregnant with your child. I didn't know what the future would bring me. All I knew was that in a week I would be in New York. The city that never sleeps.


End file.
